What did you want to be when you were growing up?

At the end he asked me if I would like to go into the Army. I thought it would be splendid to command an Army, so I said 'Yes' at once: and immediately I was taken at my word. ... I was told later that he had only come to the conclusion that I was not clever enough to go to the Bar. However that may be, the toy soldiers turned the current of my life.

For me, it was just a thrill. I just remember thinking at that time, this is the sort of thing I would like to do, if I could. I did not come from a family of scientists. My father was a lawyer, my older brother was a lawyer.

When I was growing up I wanted to be a minister. I wanted to preach.

And all the while I was growing up, of course, there were just constant conversations about money and money being tight and how are we going to make ends meet and sometimes not having enough money. And it really just made me committed to living a life with much more financial security.

I was born in Osaka, Japan. It was 45 years ago. My father has a small factory in Osaka, and we lived next to his factory

Huckleberry Finn.

I always wanted to be a singer, but I also wanted to be a doctor. I almost got there: I did four years and got my neuroscience BSc.

A jazz drummer.

A teacher. Teachers can change lives.

First a horse rancher, then a dancer.

Golfer, priest, police officer, teacher and, after going to the movies, actor.

To be able to play the piano like Artur Schnabel.

A writer. Always.

A stuntman. Evel Knievel was an icon.

A spy, a witch and a nun.

When I was a child, it was a bus driver or engine driver; then, when I was a teenager, I went to the theatre and wanted to be an actor.

Genuinely, the host of Radio 1’s Breakfast Show.

For a while I wanted to be a policewoman, but I didn’t have five O-levels.

At three, I knew I was too tall to be a ballerina, so that wasn’t going to happen.

I always wanted to play tennis. Otherwise, I always thought it would be fun to do something in mathematics or physics.